Wadhwa Assessment of Guilt and Shame (WAGS)

Enhancing Emotional Understanding in Assessment and Therapy

Shame and Guilt: Unraveling Self-Conscious Emotions in Mental Health

Shame and guilt are two powerful self-conscious emotions that can play a critical role in mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) associates the presence—or absence—of these emotions with various disorders, including Conduct Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. However, shame has yet to be formally recognized as a core sub-criterion in these diagnoses, despite its profound impact on mental health.

This webpage aims to explore guilt and shame, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and addressing these emotions in mental health care.

Understanding Guilt and Shame

Guilt occurs when a person attributes negative feelings to a specific behavior (“I missed my friend’s birthday”).
Shame, on the other hand, occurs when the negative feeling is directed toward the self (“I am a bad friend”).

Individuals who experience persistent shame and guilt often struggle with distorted self-perception, emotional dysregulation, and difficulties in their interpersonal relationships. Understanding these emotions is essential for clinicians to accurately assess mood, behavior, and interpersonal dynamics.

The Clinical Challenge: Recognizing Shame and Guilt

While several self-report tools exist to measure shame and guilt, many have limitations. These assessments are often face-valid, meaning they rely heavily on the respondent’s explicit self-awareness and honesty. Such tools lack the ability to capture the deeper context or the subtle, non-verbal cues that can reveal how these emotions truly manifest.

Why Projective Techniques Matter

Projective techniques offer a way to bypass some of the limitations of traditional self-report measures. These tools allow clinicians to observe non-verbal behaviors and uncover unconscious or implicit emotions that might not be revealed through direct questioning. However, existing projective tools often lack cultural sensitivity, which limits their effectiveness in diverse clinical populations.

Introducing the Wadhwa Assessment of Guilt and Shame (WAGS)

The Wadhwa Assessment of Guilt and Shame (WAGS) addresses these gaps by providing a nuanced, culturally sensitive tool for assessing these complex emotions. WAGS integrates:

Ambiguous and unambiguous stimuli for capturing self-reported and contextual data.
Observation of non-verbal behaviors to enrich the clinical understanding.
Illustrated cards representing four ethnicities—African American/Black, European American/White, Asian/Brown, and Hispanic/Latino—allowing clinicians to select images that resonate with the client’s cultural background.

By offering this culturally inclusive approach, the WAGS ensures that individuals from diverse backgrounds feel seen and understood, enhancing both the assessment process and therapeutic outcomes.

Conclusion

Guilt and shame are critical emotions to consider in mental health care, as they shape a person’s emotional experience and interpersonal interactions. Traditional assessments often fall short in capturing the full complexity of these emotions. The WAGS provides a unique solution by offering a comprehensive, culturally sensitive tool that enables clinicians to gain deeper insights into their clients’ emotional worlds. Understanding and addressing these emotions is a crucial step toward effective treatment and healing.

Interested in contributing to the WAGS research? Participate in our research initiatives!

I am conducting a study to evaluate psychometric properties of a projective tool designed to measure guilt and shame – the Wadhwa Assessment of guilt and shame (WAGS). This culturally sensitive tool is designed to provide a projective measure to assess guilt and shame.

Your participation in this study will help us collect important data to explore the psychometric properties of the WAGS. Additionally, It will also help us understand your perception and satisfaction with WAGS.

This research project consists of two phases. The first phase entails completing the consent form, pre-interview questionnaire, and scheduling an interview appointment with the researcher. This electronic questionnaire is expected to take approximately 10 minutes to complete. The Second phase includes an administration of the WAGS and completing the post-interview form. The online interview is expected to last a maximum of 60 minutes. Subsequently, you will be provided with a post-interview form related to the WAGS assessment, which should take approximately 5 minutes or less to complete.

If you are interested in completing the survey, please go to: https://forms.gle/DGKk5KFEz2EorekF8 or see the link on the attached flyer. Please share this opportunity with others who may be interested and meet eligibility requirements.If you have any questions or concerns related to this study, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.